Color proofing kit and method



y 1961 H. BRADT 2,990,715

COLOR PROOFING KIT AND METHOD Filed Dec. 4, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR'. HERBERT BRADT BMW ATTYS,

July 4, 1961 H. BRADT 2,990,715

CQLOR PROQFING KIT AND METHOD Filed Dec. 4, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 32 FIE. 5

l4 WHEN! quill INVENTORZ HERBERT BRADT ATTYS.

smooth non-absorbent material may be employed.

United States Patent 2,990,715 I COLOR PROOFING KIT AND METHOD Herbert Bradt, Philadelphia, Pa., as'signor to Glenn-Killian Color Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Dec. 4, 1958, Ser. No. 778,142 Claims. (Cl. 73 -150) The present invention relates to color proofing, and has particular application to proofing colors for offset printing.

. When setting up a production job on an offset lithographic press, it has been difficult to predict the precise color that will result in the press with the printing ink in use. Because no simple, accurate method of predicting the resulting color has been available prior to the present invention, the lithographer frequently has found it neces sary to change the color of the printing ink on his press. In order to do this, he must go through the expensive procedure of washing up his machine. Before obtaining the desired results, it was often necessary to do this several times. a

With the foregoing in mind, the present invention provides a novel kit and method of proofing colors, which eliminate the production losses and expensive proofing methods of the prior art.

More particularly, the present invention provides a kit of simple and compact design and having elements which assure accurate proofing to simulate the actual results from a printing press.

, The present invention also provides a novel method which enables accurate prediction of the results to be obtained by running a selected ink specimen in an offset lithographic press.

All of the objects of the present invention and the various features, and details of the construction and operation of the kit and the performance of the method are more fully set forth hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a kit made in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation and partially in section of the transfer element of the kit which simulates the blanket of the offset lithographic press; and

FIGS. 3 to 6 inclusive show the various steps utilizing the kit to perform the method of the present invention.

Referring to the drawing, the kit illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises a casing .10 having a base receptacle 11 and a lid 12 adapted to be secured to the base 11 by latches 13, 13. The kit includes an inking surface, ink-measuring means, and a transfer element.

The inking surface, designated 14, is permanently mounted in the base receptacle. In the present instance, the surface is formed by a glass plate 15 mounted on a block 16 within the base 11, although any other hard It is noted that the glass plate 15 projects above the side walls 17 of the base -11 so that the surface 14 is disposed above the level of the side wall.

The ink-measuring means is releasably mounted in the base 11 alongside the block 16. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the ink-measuring means comprises a spatula or printers knife 20 mounted in the base 11 by means of a spring clip 21, and a measuring device for ink, which in the present instance, takes the form of a bar 22 and plunger 27 mounted in the base by spring clips indicated at 23 and 24. The bar 22, as shown in FIG. 3, has two cylindrical bores 25 and 26 therein which are of different internal diameters to measure different quantities of ink. One end 28 of the plunger 27 has a diameter similar to the diameter of the bore 25 to slidably engage the bore and express the material contained ice shown in FIG. 2, the roller 30 comprises a handle portion,

32 having a yoke 33 at the end thereof which mounts a roller 34.

The roller 34 comprises a hard core with a thin soft coating. In the present embodiment of the invention, the hard core is composed of a steel cylinder of 1%; inch diameter with a & inch coating of hard rubber having a durometer of approximately 70. The thin soft coating is a & layer of soft rubber having a durometer of approximately 30. The important feature of the roller is that a thin coating of soft material is superimposed on a hard Otherwise, good proofs on all types of paper are core.

not obtainable. This particular construction simulates the blanket of an offset lithographic press so that when the roller is rolled on the paper or other stock, the action is identical to the action of the blanket on the stock. Rolls of different construction may be employed so long as the construction simulates the construction of the lithographic blanket, and the action of the roll on the paper is substantially identical to the action of the blanket on the paper or other stock.

In the operation of the kit to perform the method of the present invention, a measured quantity of the specimen of ink is applied to the inking surface 14 of the plate 15. To this end, a blob of ink '40, which normally has a consistency of thin paste, is placed on the ink knife or spatula 20, as shown in FIG. 3. The blob of ink 40 on the spatula is then used to fill one of the bores 25 and 26 of the measuring bar 22 to form a plug of ink as indicated at 41. The ink knife 20 insures that the ink 40 completely fills the bore and is level with the top and bottom surfaces of the measuring bar. In the present instance, the bore 25 is filled and therefore, the large end 28 of the plunger 27 is used to express the plug 41, as shown in FIG. 4a onto the inking surface 14 of the plate '15, as indicated in broken lines in FIG. 4.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the bore 25 has a diameter of 0.116 inch, and the bore 26 has a diameter of 0.096 inch, and the bar 22 has a thickness of 0.250 inch. The sizes of the bores are correlated with the area of the surface .14 and the surface area of the roller 34, the dimensions of the surface 14 being 2%.x8 inches,

and the roller 34 being 2 inches in width and approximately 1% inches in diameter. These dimensions are suitable to provide light, normal, or heavy films for use on smooth finished papers such as coated, Krome Kote, etc., or rough finished papers such as offset, vellum, etc. For example, to provide a light film on a smooth finished paper, the quantity of ink applied to the surface 14 consists of one plug from the bore 26. For a normal film on such paper, the quantity consists of one plug from the bore 25, and for a heavy film on this paper, the quantity consists of two plugs from the bore 26. For rough finished papers, a light film is produced by a single plug from the bore 25; a normal film is produced by two plugs from the bore 26, and a heavy film is produced by two plugs from the bore 25. Of course, other variations are possible with the use of the measuring bar 22 or other measuring devices.

Also, the kit and proofing method is designed to predict the color that a specimen of ink will produce on letterpress or other types of printing equipment by varying the volume of ink used to make the color proof. This Patented July 4, 1961 can be done by using different size bores in the measuring bar than the ones described above.

When the proper quantityof ink has been deposited on the inking surface 14 of theplate 15, the hand roller 30 is used to roll the ink into a smooth layer 42 on the surface 14, at the same time depositing a uniform coating 43 on the roller surface. Repeated passes of the roller on the plate 15 insure that the entire inking surface 14 is covered uniformly and that the coating on the roller element 34 is uniformly at a thickness corresponding to the thickness of the coating on the blanket of the offset lithographic press. FIG. 6 illustrates the roller element 34 when it has a uniform coating 43 thereon. When the coating 43 is uniform on the roller element-34, the roller is applied to a sheet 45 of the stock which is to be printed in the offset lithographic press. As the roller is rolled on the stock 45, the link from the coating 43 leaves an imprint 46 on the stock and the color of the imprint 46 corresponds precisely to the color which will be imprinted on the stock by the blanket of the offset lithographic press by ink of the composition of the blob 40. The imprint 46 may therefore be compared with the standard or the sample which must be matched, and if it does not match with the sample, it is a simple procedure to clean the kit and blend weighed amounts of the ink constituents necessary to produce a composition which effects the desired match. Since small quantities of ink are used in the performance of the method of the present invention, there is substantially no wasting of ink due to improper blending of constituents.

The kit of the present invention affords a simple apparatus for performing the method. It is noted that since the surface 14 is disposed above the level of the wall 17 of the base portion of the casing, the surface 14 may be completely covered without danger of missing the edges of the surface or losing ink by reason of running onto the casing beyond the edges of the surfaces.

While a particular embodiment of the present invention has been herein described, it is not intended to limit the invention to the precise embodiment of the disclosure, but changes and modifications may be made therein and thereto within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of proofing the color of an ink specimen for a printing press comprising the steps of depositing a measured quantity of the ink specimen on an inking surface having a predetermined area correlated to said measured quantity, rolling said measured quantity of ink uniformly over the entire area of said inking surface in a uniform layer and simultaneously coating a transfer element with a uniform coating of said ink from said layer and thereafter pressing said transfer element on a sheet of stock to be printed in said press and removing said element to leave an imprint of said color on said stock corresponding to the color imprinted on said stock by said ink in a printing press.

2. The method of proofing the color of an ink specimen for an ofiset lithographic press comprising the steps of measuring a predetermined volume of the ink specimen, depositing said measured volume of ink on an inking surface having a predetermined area correlated to said predetermined volume, rolling said measured volume of ink uniformly over the entire area of said inking surface in a uniform layer and simultaneously coating a roller simulating the blanket of the offset lithographic press with a uniform coating of said ink, and thereafter rolling said roller over a sheet of stock to be printed in said press and removing said roller to leave an imprint of said color on said stock corresponding to the color imprinted on said stock by said ink in an offset lithographic press.

3. A color proofing kit comprising a base, an inking surface of hard non-absorbent smooth finish permanently mounted on said base and projecting above said base, said surface having a given area, ink-measuring means operable to deposit on said surface a volume of ink predetermined in relation to said given area, releasable fastening means mounting said ink-measuring means on said base, a transfer element having a thin, soft, resilient transfer surface and cooperable with said inking surface to spread uniform coatings of said measured ink over the entire area of said inking surface and said transfer surface, and releasable fastening means within the side walls of said receptacle releasably mounting said transfer element thereon.

4. A kit according to claim 3, wherein said transfer element comprises a roller having a handle, a hard cylindrical core rotatably mounted on said handle, and a thin soft coating on said hard core.

5. A color proofing kit according to claim 3 wherein said ink-measuring means comprises a bar of uniform thickness, and at least one aperture of cylindrical bore passing through said bar, means to completely fill said aperture, and a plunger having an end portion of a diameter corresponding to the diameter of the bore of said aperture for expressing the ink in said aperture therethrough onto said inking surface.

6. A kit according to claim 5 wherein said measuring bar includes two apertures having cylindrical bores of different diameters and volumes predetermined in relation to said given area and wherein further said plunger has two different end portions each corresponding in diameter to the diameters of the respective bores.

7. A kit according to claim 5 wherein said filling means comprises an ink knife having a flexible blade cooperable with said apertured bar to completely fill the aperture with ink so as to measure said predetermined volume of ink.

8. A kit according to claim 3 wherein said transfer element comprises a roller having a handle, a hard cylindrical core rotatably mounted on said handle, a coating of hard rubber on said core, and a coating of soft rubber on said hard rubber coating.

9. A color proofing kit comprising a base receptacle, having a bottom and upstanding side walls surrounding said bottom, an inking surface of a given area having a hard non-absorbent smooth finish, permanently mounted in said base receptacle and disposed above the level of the upper terminal edge of said side walls, ink-measuring means operable to deposit on said surface a volume of ink predetermined in relation to said given area, releasable fastening means within the side walls of said receptacle mounting said ink-measuring means within the side walls of said base receptacle, a transfer roller having a handle and a roller element rotatably mounted on said handle, said roller element having a transfer surface simulating the surface of the blanket of an offset lithographic press, said transfer surface being cooperable with said inking surface to spread uniform coatings of said measured ink over the entire areas of said inking surface and said transfer surface, and releasable fastening means within the side walls of said receptacle releasably mounting said transfer roller therein, and a cover element releasably latched to said side walls to enclose said surface, said inkmeasuring means and said transfer roller.

10. A color proofing kit comprising an inking surface of a given area having a hard non-absorbent smooth finish, ink-measuring means operable to deposit on said surface a volume of ink predetermined in relation to said given area, and a transfer element having a thin, soft, resilient transfer surface having an exposed area cooperable with said inking surface to spread uniform coatings of said measured ink over the entire area of said inking surface and said transfer surface, and a hard core underlying said thin, soft, resilient transfer surface.

Relerenees Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,691,739 Schur Nov. 13, 1928 2,167,652 Hoch Aug. 1, 1939 2,243,674 Hoch May 27, 1941 2,247,297 Hoover June 24, 1941 

